America's Invisible Crisis | Nicholas Eberstadt

[@annekamumford849]

The number one reason for this is a lack of morale and hope. People are giving up on life and killing time while waiting to die because the system is so rigged against them. People don’t see a future worth fighting for.

[@annekamumford849]

Forced injections, lockdowns and take downs of small business is a prime example of the system being rigged against people and families.

[@jaymorgan8017]

Yup

[@annekamumford849]

@@jaymorgan8017 the powers that be are intentionally demoralising us so we are weak and easy to control. So we need to get up and fight the good fight.

[@cadmdhpro8779]

In my uni, the two most clever of the class (Law school) left after a year. I don't know where they are now, but I am still wondering what's wrong with the system.

[@annekamumford849]

@@cadmdhpro8779 maybe they went to another law school or maybe they decided to study medicine instead.

[@Clone42]

Work was dignifying because it was part of a social contract that is now broken. The baby boomers were the first generation in history that, thanks to urbanization and the pill, birthed a smaller generation than their own. Historically every generation has been empowered, by raw numerical advantage, to grab the political baton when they matured to adulthood and turn the state to their benefit. But this time, with an aging generation clinging to political power, the state was channeled to inflate real estate values to finance decadent retirements. Armies of other people's children were imported to compensate for the collapsing birth rate, pumping more and more demand into the already unattainable housing sector. The chain of events was predictable based purely on incentives and the unique demographic shift. Do you expect men to derive "dignity" from work that rewards none of the meaningful incentives that motivated all previous generations (and all the life on this planet, for that matter)? Because historically the male fantasy has not been to work to a sexless death in a demeaning social experiment as they're denigrated and taxed to pay for the importation of their "more deserving" replacements. Get bent.

[@grannyannie2948]

Well said

[@JeffCaplan313]

💯

[@skylinefever]

The boomers need to put people on the bottom of the pyramid scheme to make up for the ones they didn't make.

[@awesomesurfer6358]

More deserving replacement is very true. Well put

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

Women don't want to do wastewater plumbing,firebricking,etc..I've hired them and they quit. Social engineering is to neither benefit.

[@raoul1234567]

This fellow identify a real problem but lost me in his analysis. When I was young the income from one stable job would enable you to live and save, buy a car and a house, marry have kids, even have a holiday. Houses back then were homes, not disposable assets and society was built on people understanding that this was possible if you worked for it. This is gone now. The people described in this piece didn’t cause its demise. They are a product of deliberate policy written by corporate captured-governments . Over the pandemic there was a 5 trillion dollar wealth transfer to the wealthiest people on the planet. That 2 trillion handout didn’t put $25000 into the hands of the ordinary people. It stayed at the top by design. Prior to that we had 15 years of deliberate government policy that helped existing property owners over anyone trying to get into their first home. The problem this piece talks about is real, but blaming too generous welfare is rubbish. Does he know how hard it is to survive on welfare? Does he have any idea? True Inflation, not the new inflation that’s calculated to deliver whatever figure the government wants, is sky high. All that said, I appreciate that this channel has people who believe in something and argue the point instead of the mindless slope of the mainstream.

[@roninbruh]

Thank you for your comment. This so called Eberstadt intellectual doesn’t highlight what the real problems are. He just wants to shame men. He doesn’t offer any solutions, only criticism.

[@bw1357]

You nailed it

[@devin_3875]

SUCH a good comment

[@happyhappynuts]

​@@roninbruh many men can't find suitable mates, accordingly, they lack the motivation to work hard. In such a case, fertility drop is automatic

[@skylinefever]

Yes, until the corporate oligarchs can be tamed, nothing will change.

[@ckva7888]

The economic shell game is real and it has devastated the middle class in the USA. In 1988 a journeyman carpenter made $24.00 hr adjusted for inflation that would be $60.69 hr in 2023. Today in 2023 a journeyman carpenter makes $25.00 hr, adjusted for inflation $10.00 hr in 1988 dollars. That’s more than a 50% cut in real pay.

[@roninbruh]

You forgot the destruction of the trade in terms of third-world quality too.

[@ckva7888]

You are correct in adding that point 3rd world quality is what you get with a $10.00 hr or less equivalent carpenter. Did you notice how many people just perished in the earthquake over in Turkey. Very sad. Poured in place concrete structures are built by carpenters and building them incorrectly can lead to tragic consequences.

[@roninbruh]

@@ckva7888 yeah it’s tragic indeed. But our greedy bankers, corrupt project managers, and clueless buyers are none the wiser. Go figure. You import the third-world, you become the third-world.

[@ba1208]

Back in 1990 in Australia as a construction/housing painter & decorator I was earning $15 (gross) per hour, today 2023 rates vary between $30-$45 (gross) per hour. Thats 33 years. So much for a One World Economy we were sold by our leaders over this period, for us poor little workers in the West 😞😢. See, rather than lifting the 3rd World out of their misery, they're driving us back into misery and eventually the destitute world.

[@weirdshibainu]

I've just retired, I look at guys in their 20's and 30's who have essentially "quiet quit" on society and I understand why they have. It's not good for the country and it'll haunt us in ways yet unimagined, but it's been a long time coming.

[@brianmeen2158]

I do too to a certain extent. That said, what honestly do you recommend them do at this point? That’s the problem I see - I hear their complaints and they are right on many points but I fail in seeing how we can motivate them or get the on the right track.

[@dapple33]

The people are responding to the environment in which they find themselves. Everything that must be "fixed" are systematic, in the economy, business practices, and government/law. These must be addressed first before any societal healing can begin, a process that will be slow and painful, and take one to two generations.

[@zuzanazuscinova5209]

How come immigrants are still able to work and get by?

[@homertalk]

They are not recognizing what tools they are buying into the leftists world of trannies and pronouns. They are being replaced by the filthy immigrants that the leftists would welcome. 20's and 30's people are destroying themselves. Get a backbone and they'll thrive.

[@Seva896]

@@zuzanazuscinova5209 I talked to an Uber driver from Mexico. He works in US to build equity back in a home country.

[@lafred2007]

Happen to me. Lost my job of 14yrs to COVID You try to get a job over 60. Your either over qualified or too old. So took transition to retirement and some Handyman work of only nice people. No companies or Real-estates

[@kateoneal4215]

Good for you!!! We badly need more handymen now! I rely on people like you!

[@ltcajh]

I told my girls that once you're in your 50s it's awfully hard to get a good job!

[@ltcajh]

@@Diana-yn2ho Can't prove it most of the time, which we all know.

[@mfawls9624]

When I left the workforce in 2007, at age 42, to stay home with our kids I cannot tell you how many times I heard from other men - 'Why not? No one wants to hire a 40 yr old white male'. True or not, that was the perception already back then.

[@Joe-xd3ur]

That happened to me during the 2008 depression.

[@ellisthejerk8018]

Welcome to a black man's world, black male unemployment has been a problem since the 70s and now look at the crime rates, gangsta culture and single mothers 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@teaadvice4996]

As a white man no one will hire u

[@Charles.P17896]

Disagree in August 2008 I made a career change from construction to corporate at age 40 no college degree. I made 36k 1st year after 15 years in corporate I make over 100k with no degree.

[@sethbrown9967]

Of all these talks I listen to. He never mentioned that there is no incentive for men to work hard anymore. They have taken the male out of the workplace because he no longer wants to lose his house his children and half his earnings. The courts have destroyed the home.

[@chriscampbell9191]

And most states have an entire arm of the court system dedicated to what you just described.

[@blackice8824]

The feminist destroyed homes. The courts just gave them what they wanted.

[@marciamartins1992]

When it's zero sum between men and women you've got a problem. I blame Nixon, Reagan and anyone else who thought making American workers compete with the Chinese was a good idea.

[@chriscampbell9191]

@@marciamartins1992 Point taken, but although globalization started before Nixon, when US trade policies allowed Japanese cars, steel and electronic goods to be imported at low cost and virtually no tariff. The problem really kicked in after Reagan was out of office - the offshoring of jobs to China really started in the 1990s, when China began gearing up to become a world-class manufacturer, and US companies began to see it as a place to move factories. it was solidified when Clinton and other WTO leaders admitted China in 2000. NAFTA also harmed the American worker to a certain degree. The outsourcing and offshoring problem is one that both major parties gave us, driven by Wall Street and corporate America. And the internet, of course, helped it along as well.

[@williewonka6694]

Yes, and all this is intentional.

[@jasongraham8250]

Why should young men sacrifice themselves for a society that openly hates them?

[@teaadvice4996]

Incel

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

Deleted comment YT?

[@akp167]

Why even put it in those terms? Shouldn't a young man be working just to simply survive and save money for himself?

[@rattlehead999]

That doesn't require sacrifice, just minimal effort.

[@CelestialWoodway]

Do it for yourself.

[@Obliv69]

when people are over worked or treated as disposable at work, paid less than ideal wages and have a high percentage of their average income stolen by govt tax it makes people wonder what is the point of going to work to try get ahead when all they end up doing is struggling pay to pay.

[@kateoneal4215]

Well said!!!!

[@frosty3693]

Not to mention the never ending "compliance", "safety" and "social issues" useless training required for perhaps no other reasons than, making the corperation look good to the woke, give data for offict IT types something to do and middle managers who have degrees in useless field a job. How many of the "not working" are the career criminal/gang menber/drug dealers? Or they working in the black market labor and gig jobs. With the examples of the Bidens and other people gaming the system and getting money for nothing why work? And with the modern feminism, modern family courts and the education system's war on boys making marriage not a good choice what reason do young men have to get a good job and make money to have and support a family? The "woke" and destruction of the old culture by war waged by liberals on modern society has created a limbo of meaning for younger generations.

[@texazwhyte2791]

Very well said.

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

I have always paid above market to my summer jobs kids. They always come back and work their tails off. Greed sours these kids, as it did when I was young. Gen X sending praise to Gen Millenials!!

[@carolyna.869]

Yeah, but we still work anyway-- at least women do-- because that is the honorable thing to do. I just came from a CVS where three female employees were chastising a man as he stole from the store. "At least we WORK and have jobs!" they said. I'm so proud of them for working - who cares that it is less than glamourous- at least they can feel accomplished-- unlike the male thief- loser.

[@Bullfrog377]

Glad you noted that Governments have encouraged immigration, so employers can continue to pay low wages and not to give much training.

[@Hellsaint1]

Not to mention inflate house prices to pay for the boomer's retirement and the final stab in the back of their grandchildren.

[@roninbruh]

@@Hellsaint1 astute point. Mass immigration drove up housing prices and rent far beyond the boomers wildest dreams.

[@grannyannie2948]

I wish John had done that when he was still deputy Prime Minister.

[@negroraven9458]

@@Hellsaint1 While the boomers blame black people for why they’ve betrayed their own offspring!👌🏾🤣

[@user-gz4ve8mw9l]

We don't get trained nor promoted nor raises in the USA. Most especially at the bottom for lower wage workers. The ones who desperately need all 3 the most just to have a chance to survive.

[@louisetaylor2131]

All of our standards have eroded during my lifetime. Community has fallen by the wayside. Time to get real values back in our lives

[@grannyannie2948]

I agree. As an Australian, as a tiny child, everything got destroyed between 1973 - 75.

[@colindant3410]

​@@grannyannie2948 What happened between 1973 and 1975?

[@grannyannie2948]

@@colindant3410 Whitlem exchanged assimilation and tests in English with multiculturalism. He introduced welfare for mother who'd never married. He introduced abortion. Perhaps worst of all he introduced No Fault Divorce to stop people getting married at all. He ended traditional trade in favour of trade with Asia/ China, destroying our manufacturing. He introduced 18C destroying free speech of anyone criticising the things he had done.

[@ckva7888]

You can thank the progressive aka Marxist we have to tear it all down so we can build utopia lot, tragic they never seem to get to the utopia part. Nothing more dangerous than a democracy with a 51% well intentioned useful idiot voter base.

[@mikisunshine9334]

​@@grannyannie2948 how did he destroy?

[@williamtyler9979]

As a church goer in the USA, pastors constantly discuss saving money and preparing for job loss. In USA, regardless of gender, job loss is a fact of life. I went 7 years constantly gainfully employed and am now laid off. I have been looking for jobs at the pay rate I was at before and even much lower. You would be surprised how some of these construction companies or labor jobs won't take you if you don't have experience. I have been unemployed for less than a month and despite not having a purpose, I have lost weight, I smoke less tobacco, I drink less, and am being much healthier. I needed substances to get through work. I am on the autistic spectrum and am on meds and it is just taxing. As I push into middle age, people are less forgiving of my hangups. I, more or less want as little to do with society as humanly possible.

[@KarlDMarx]

Recently I realised that the price of "my bread" at Coles (Supermarket giant in Australia) had increased by a whopping 25%. I asked the person who sliced it for me whether his salary had gone up by the same amount. It hadn't. His salary was increased after 3 years of stagnation by less that 3%.

[@ColonelMuppet]

I’m no Marxist myself but the data is already out - 55% of price increases are down to “gouging”. Using inflation as a cypher to increase prices and profit margins beyond cost increases. That points to a monopolized or highly uncompetitive economy - and failure of anti trust.

[@dougpatterson7494]

@@ColonelMuppet what data is suggesting “gouging” as the primary driver of inflation? While I won’t say it doesn’t exist it seems more due to each stage in the supply chain increasing costs slightly to compensate for their increased costs. In Canada our major grocery chains have made record profits BUT their margins have remained relatively consistent. 10% profit on a $1.50 product is 15 cents whilst when that product is sold for $2 it is 20 thus profit increases. I wouldn’t consider this gouging. It would be nice if profitable corporations would cut consumers some slack and eat some of the price increases but that is not realistic to expect.

[@ColonelMuppet]

@@dougpatterson7494 the past 2 years US corporates have hit post war high profit margins: that at a time of “high inflation!” The inverse is what one should expect. I’m looking up the report I saw in Q3 that showed that 55% of the price hikes were gouges, it is empirical work tho. CEOs have loved this whole inflation story because it has given them cover to gouge. Even the Biden Administration is aware and investigating various industries for gouging, right now they are looking at meat packers for gouging: an industry that had dozens of players 40 years ago. Now there’s only 3. Monopoly and oligopoly are the single biggest threats to our economies in the west but nobody cares….

[@skylinefever]

I would love to see how much less prices would go if money printer couldn't brrr.

[@scottandrews947]

@@dougpatterson7494 You won't find this data for one simple reason: the rich control the data. If they don't want you to know something, you won't know it. It's as simple as that.

[@paperandmedals8316]

He’s correct. I know a man with his BS in Business Administration with an MBA who is a veteran who routinely is treated very poorly by employers or recruiters as they will not even return his emails. He’s travel the world using his own PTO doing medical volunteer work, worked full time and went to college full time. Handsome guy in his mid-40’s and can’t find a job at his education level. Very unfortunate.

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

And many more veterans!

[@michaelsix9684]

have him come to TX and check us out, he might land a spot -- a good worker is always in demand

[@cutcut1980]

That’s because he is over educated and under skilled. A BS in business is worthless (Especially Marketing and Management). Can a business degree treat a health issue, fix a leak, repair your car or build a home? By-the-way, I’ve got a BS in accounting. I switched over to the pest industry because I got tired of staring into a computer all day. I make way more than I did as an accountant.

[@ryleighloughty3307]

Our progressive Western society has relentlessly undermined men and now mocks and discards the undermined man. Consequently, this has led to an absence of life-meaning for men, manifested in their withdrawal from an active role in society.

[@stevenhanson6057]

Excuses excuses

[@suzannelaw2219]

@Ryleigh Loughty, you need this book

[@dannyb3663]

Yes. And consequently, a drop in the quality of society. Men held up half the sky. Or used to.

[@skylinefever]

@@dannyb3663 Yes, and when they sky falls, these missing men won't try to put it back up, pr they will charge a very high price to put it back up.

[@brianmeen2158]

@@skylinefever or that country might just import men that will do it . That is what the west is seeing right now - if younger western men won’t work then they will let eager immigrants come into that will . The game you are playing is a lose/lose strategy

[@greghuntington9277]

I'd say a lot of men aren't as interested in starting families due to the family court system.

[@skylinefever]

It certainly is a contributor, but good luck getting conservatives to do anything other than say "Choose better women." Such people won't bother with protecting men with bait and switch.

[@skylinefever]

@@Xrre343k7a3s Men can do all they want to keep a family intact, but some of these men still end up with a divorce order filed on them.

[@sylviam6535]

Gar bage wo men and a court system which sides with them every single time is a disincentive to start a stable relationship.

[@stayfree6115]

Absolutely! Don't feed the meat grinder boys. Run from marriage and cohabitation like your pants are on fire. And don't look back.

[@greghuntington9277]

@@sylviam6535 no it certainly is not. What it does though, is help stratify society, as many intelligent and high earning people will choose not to marry/long term relationship cohabitation with someone significantly lower on the socioeconomic ladder as them, due to the severe consequences in the result of a divorce/breakup which is statistically high.

[@kateoneal4215]

Let's face it, living in the US, now essentially a third-world country in sooo many ways, is hellishly depressing. THAT'S the bottom line.

[@sylviam6535]

The maniacs in Washington D.C. starting wars with Russia and China will finish off the empire altogether over the next few years.

[@sabbottart]

Though a lot more money available than a 3rd world country.

[@LegoSwordViedos]

@@sabbottart money avalible to who? who can even afford a apartment on $8 an hour? you'd be hard pressed to even with $12

[@andredaedone7732]

The United States have three things I like. Cheap Almonds, Johnsonville Jalapeno Sausages and decent gyms.

[@tres5533]

Got that right Kate. Please read my comment and warn people of MSG (Manhattan Stratgey Group), the company I worked with.

[@michaelkelcy3522]

It's clear that these guys aren't going to address the now 50 year old plus conservative war on unions, the impact of being at war for 20 years, the death of middle management positions, the extraordinary income inequality in this nation and all the other factors that have lead to the death of the middle class, the death of the possibility of increasing one's family's economic status, and the death of the American dream. What we have today is the end result of the transfer of wealth from the 90% to the 0.1% which these guys seemed not to have noticed.

[@simonacerton3478]

You can't teach a man something his job require he not know.

[@deborahdean8867]

For your information, that top 1% is not stagnant. People typically enter into it for 2 to 3 years and then drop out. The problem isn't rich people, the problem is coporate monopolies, no balanced federal budget , and globalism.

[@simonacerton3478]

@@deborahdean8867 I 100% agree on the 3 but it doesn't preclude excess personal wealth from being an issue too.

[@truthboomertruthbomber5125]

Simon Acerton They gotta new super yacht to buy !

[@savevsdeath]

@@simonacerton3478 Taking peoples' wealth and 'redistributing' it will never work. It will just create another, worse problem when those people push back to keep their rightly-earned assets.

[@DanSme1]

These "men" were generally misguided by the secular educational system(s) (95% public). The 'systems" aren't focused on preparing men for the real world, instead, the Educational Industrial Complex is focused on institutional growth/expansion and employees' early retirement. It's self-reinforcing social failure. Education is THE largest special interest group that votes/elects politicians who support and reinforce public monopolies.

[@skylinefever]

I say that we need to call it "Big School" and treat it with the disdain of Big Tobacco and Big Oil.

[@awesomesurfer6358]

Very true, big Ed is the great distractor for reality, this is why education became compulsory in the 1930s to get people out of work instead of solving the problem

[@leeanderson2912]

Good Point.

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

Excellent!

[@malcolmmarzo2461]

A multifactorial problem. A big factor in the U.S. educational system has been the elitist takeover of K-12. I saw this start in the 1990's with the closing of wood shop facilities, the elimination of home economics classes, the closing of auto shop classes. A shift from the physical world to the abstract world. All in the name of so-called "higher-order thinking skills" and a so-called college prep curriculum for every student.

[@ppser818]

Yeah man, somebody has to toss the bricks around the jobsite.

[@bw1357]

For the last 35 years here in America, almost every advertisement for job openings always seems to end with minorities and females encouraged to apply. Hear it everyday on radio advertisements job openings. Tail end of the advert minorities and females encouraged to apply. Translation: white males do not bother to come in and submit an application. It's very difficult to turn a ship that's been headed in one direction for a generation.

[@grannyannie2948]

I'm Australian, and whilst it's not stated, we all know the policy prevents men from succeeding unless it's garbage removal ect.

[@delanorrosey4730]

That's why they can work themselves to death to pay for my unemployment benefits, retirement, and section 8 housing while I take up my hobbies.

[@jimeyhat]

I'm a straight White male and the only way I can get work is temp jobs because DEI quotas don't apply to temps. The people in control better fix this soon or the train derailments and flght delays will become an everyday occurance.

[@benedictcowell6547]

The simpIe truth is that women are better adapted to the eIectronic age than men. The SkiIIs of women are better suited to a modern society than men, because it invoIves dexterit, coIIaboration and men have suffered from a saIutary shock of not being as superior as they cIaimed. The important statistic wouId be how many of the 'minorities' empIoyed are women. The macho worId of maIe conceit is dead, and so it shouId be.

[@skylinefever]

@@jimeyhat Things might change when people people on top have to get all of their services from the diversity hire.

[@nathanmoak1515]

good paying manufacturing jobs went overseas 40 years ago. nobody wants to flip burgers for minimum wage and no benefits. america needs GOOD JOBS!

[@nestormatos8477]

In the 70"s while in high school we had factories all over the place and I worked during the summer to help out the family. You don't see that today.

[@Teakwood11]

Lack of desire to work or be otherwise socially engaged is "astonishing"? What is astonishing is the lack of understanding of what has happened to the social and familial position of working class men on the US since the 1970s. In a culture which glorifies wealth, which considers working as being for chumps and which denigrates men under the onslaught of modern feminism, this phenomenon is totally understandable.

[@chadcadsonvii5258]

What is academics full of? Strong, stoic, hard, working masculine men? Nope! They will never raise anything that goes against the narrative!

[@shanegonzales]

Ha. I've been applying for work as a mechanical engineer for 8 months with only one real interview that did not accept me for lack of experience for a specific program. No one wants to train me for their specific services. What I do every day: apply to a few jobs on LinkedIn, freelance enough to pay bills, and play minecraft with my other unemployed friends.

[@ianboard544]

Hang in there. You're looking, which is admirable.

[@ottereformicus782]

In Minecraft…. Am I right?

[@DavidVonR]

Why not just get any job in the meantime?

[@46I37]

Interesting. We’ve been trying to find a mech eng north side of Brisbane for over a year for mining products, and a pant find anyone.

[@Fjodor.Tabularasa]

You cant pick fruit while looking for your dream job?

[@ThirdWorldUSA]

America is the only place in the developed world where the prices keep rising; employees' wages keep shrinking,; and employer's wealth continues bursting at the seams. The people are now tired of working multiple jobs and sides gigs just to make ends meet.

[@Fjodor.Tabularasa]

Nonsense, you're too USA USA USA centric. This happens all over the developed world.

[@crand20033]

I couldn't keep a job to save my life.

[@silverice-cv4ob]

Exactly. My tech employer achieved record profit for 2022 in a “tech bubble” that really affects only the FAANG companies. The workers got a laughable bonus and little to no pay raises. In my grandfather’s generation, his employer would give very generous with their workers. The difference is shareholder value model that screws the worker in favor of the investor. I think there needs to be a balance. But that balance is very very out of whack!

[@ThirdWorldUSA]

​@@silverice-cv4ob Yes, it is an instance of the bamboozlement which goes on within these tech companies. These execs actually do believe down to their core that they are entitled to behave this way - for the sake of shareholder wealth maximization. They even do these same things to themselves if any sane person could believe such a thing.

[@ThirdWorldUSA]

@@crand20033 It has been slim pickings out here for these companies since the dotcom bust. They started cannibalizing themselves to save on cost and a major component of this is a procurement of labor at the lowest rate possible. The less life sustaining such a rate is for the worker the better. If you notice, shows are popping up everywhere on the media about the virtues of side-hustling and folks living in their vehicles and loving it. Who is sponsoring these people? Why would any sane person chose to live permanently in a van when they can afford to live in a home?

[@brianwilke592]

Those in power have been playing a shell game with economic "prosperity" really since the 1980's. In the early 1980's we had a 10 percent unemployment rate, and yet that was hid by sleight of hand by the govt, and by lack of actually looking by the media. By 2000, after NAFTA decimated the working class, especially in the rust belt, they were focusing on productivity, about how the American worker was so much more productive. Then after the 2008 recession, which was really more of a depression, huge numbers of people dropped out of seeking jobs after six months of no luck. Many of those people's jobs were simply wiped out by "out-sourcing" to other countries like China, or by replacement by robots. I am not sure how all these people live day-to-day. I know some claim social security disability, but I doubt the number is that high. What's left after six months of unemployment, and no job? In the last couple of years we had pandemic checks, but those are dried up. The government and media are gaslighting so many people into despair it is really alarming. Thanks John and Nicholas for bring some light to this.

[@jackmaher4466]

Not sure if anyone will see this but I know for me I would do the jobs around the house that would normally be done by a contractor. Light plumbing and electric etc.. Yardwork, food shopping. Make yourself useful and those around you won't mind. Be the one who picks up and drops off for Dr. appointments etc. And get a part time job as a cashier or something. I think there is alot of that going on.

[@johnschuh8616]

I would ad to this that after persons employed after 2008 and staffs were cut, employers found they were about --with government held--to get by with fewer service workers in America, One of the insights of Trump’s government, or at least his acknowledgement of it, was that many Americans felt robbed of opportunity and disrespected by their employers. Where persons are treated like widgets, they do not feel like investment in their work.

[@roninbruh]

@@johnschuh8616 I took a screenshot of your reply because I think you’re exactly correct.

[@brianwilke592]

@@jackmaher4466 Those people are actually very much needed.

[@gmw3083]

I was in my 40s when I realized civilization is a racket. The internet or life itself has shown this reality to younger people. Why feed the beast any more than necessary?

[@hawkkim1974]

It's quite hard to generalize this issue. It's party social rejection. Partly age discrimination. Partly unfair wealth distribution. And we can name, maybe, hundreds more reasons. Anyway some people are facing with questions like why should I live like my parents did?

[@lemostjoyousrenegade]

🎯I agree. Well said.

[@deborahdean8867]

How did your parents live? The income lifestyle? Or do you mean in a family way?

[@klimtkiller]

I can tell you exactly the reason why men (more than women) have decreased their participation in the workforce to stare at screens playing games all day. It’s quite simple really. It’s because men can’t get into relationships anymore. This was touched upon in the vid under the context that men are ‘afraid’ of building families/relationships, and that if men aren’t working this could impact their families as they can no longer be providers. I believe this explanation makes perfect sense; historically, the main motivator for men to work has been to provide for their family. This brought so much meaning and fulfilment to men, and is why men were willing to go through so much gruelling horrible work, as they had a stake in the society they live in. When you take that meaning and fulfilment away, work just doesn’t seem like it has any point, and so many men just retreat into p*rn and video games. Taking part in a society they have no stake in just seems pointless to a lot of guys. As a guy approaching 25, I can tell you, men aren’t “afraid” of relationships. The problem is a lot of guys can’t even find a date. If you look at tinder data, women (on average) swipe right on

[@mstorgaardnielsen]

Correct. This is in reality change from monogamy to polygyny.

[@kathleenjohnson6417]

Your comment seems to general, I think there are more reasons that woman have for picking thier husbands, pretty sure they are not only picking six pack abs guys

[@tonyc223]

Tinder is new. How did people meet to date for thousands of years? Put the phone down and go hunting. This goes for both sides. Look at people face to face .

[@klimtkiller]

@@tonyc223 when in history did women have this many options? never. dating apps don’t just exist in a vacuum. every girl you see irl when you ‘put the phone down and go hunting’ knows she can find a much hotter guy online. women are far more picky nowadays.

[@klimtkiller]

@@kathleenjohnson6417 yeah, also good face and 6’ tall

[@babbsinbabeland]

Growing up in a family of 10 I had an optimistic view of future generations. My parents were strict ,college educated and always presented a united front when it came to raising kids. I think the boomers took a step back when mothers and fathers careers dictated their choice of how many children to have. Boomers compared themselves to each other too much, so success meant having it all. Kids interfered with their social lives and thirst for money. I have the most children (4) of all my siblings but did not accrue the nicer things money can buy as they had. As a consequence of doting on 1,2 or 3 kids young ones grow up with a privileged attitude, bordering narcissistic. Parents put all their energy into their 2 "perfect kids" almost in a smothering way sometimes devoid of spiritual health or self responsibility. The amount of $ spent on birthdays and new cars, weddings, photographers, updated kitchens and vacations is sad to listen to in the office. College tuition is criminal so many people are frightened of not being able to provide while keeping up their lifestyles. It seems couples are much less in alignment with family goals than the greatest generations' parents were. Perhaps the college years were too much fun... That said I am not encouraging my children to have kids in this tenuous environment of impending social and economic collapse, though I would be there for them through it all should they decide to . Great video.

[@highvoltageswitcher6256]

@@Diana-yn2ho Bad news for the Millennials and Zoomers is a new generation is probably being born this year, some say the are are the “Alphas”. Whatever they are going to be called Strauss Howe generational theory predicts they will be a “Prophet” type generation ie Boomers! If correct the 2040s will be like the 1960s just with less teenagers and early twenties.

[@bobhsohi704]

Diana is sooo right , perfect analysis , and dead on right !

[@williamkinkade2538]

Oh! BALONEY, Diana I want and need more stuff!!!

[@JoBlakeLisbon]

Honestly I think boomers will be viewed as the worst generation in history - all they have ever thought about were themselves. People critique the millenials but at least millenials have some genuine altruism in them - however misguided it may be.

[@Mrbfgray]

Interestingly, times were far tougher in any decade other than the 1990's perhaps, 15 yrs of Great Depression and before that universal poverty, two world wars, all the strife, race riots, war against the Vietnam War, weekly eco-terrorism of the 1960's and '70's, 17% inflation in the '80's with high unemployment and worst recession in recent memory...

[@williewonka6694]

Why would a young man marry a woman who already has two children out of wedlock and will leave with all his money and house once she gets bored or finds a better option. F that.

[@motherofdoggos3209]

Investment firms should be barred from buying homes at all. What consumer can match Wall Street pockets? They're even buying up MOBILE HOME PARKS.

[@skylinefever]

Those conservative types won't do that, they were bought by the oligarchs to say that anything that limits an investment firm is hardcore socialism

[@leeanderson2912]

That's a fact.

[@beachdweller3378]

Truth!

[@tubalcain6874]

I just turned 65, and I’m still working, and will need to do so until I can’t. In my job I deal with industrial and construction accounts that need workers. I still see help wanted signs in industrial parks. Save for some skilled trades, the wages are lackluster to say the least, but employers by and large still have a wearying, choosy, and dilly-dallying haughtiness with an agenda to disqualify candidates left and right. I know, I’ve encountered this more than ever after job hunting discreetly with 10 years tenure at a disarrayed employer. It’s not surprising to me that few men, young or old, want any part of the workforce.

[@chriscampbell9191]

Then when they tell you to 'go online' instead of talk to a real person about a job prospect you realize that they simply aren't interested in finding workers, as anyone who's been through the modern, corporate, AI-bot infested version of job application can testify. If they were truly interested in gaining workers, they'd adjust their hiring techniques accordingly.

[@mangonut]

I’m a 38 year old woman who will have to work until the end. I don’t have a problem with it. Why is it a big deal for men?

[@chriscampbell9191]

@@mangonut It's not a big deal, except society talks like it's 2023 but has 19th Century attitudes and expectations concerning men. That is the big deal -- not having to work until you drop, which isn't. Having to work 'til you drop may be an irritant to some, but it's a given in today's service / outsourced / offshored / "gig" / independent contractor even if you're an employee / churn-based economy.

[@chriscampbell9191]

@@mangonut Another reason that people gripe about the present day economic and business model is that up until GenX we were taught that the American Dream still existed, and that you would go to college, get a career, work hard and get a decent salary for it, get married, have the house and kids, and retire when you're 65. None of that applies anymore to most men, and undoubtedly most Americans as well. One can't expect people to be happy with being lied to about how society works and seeing the same lie applied to most of our main societal institutions. The American Dream has been redefined to mean that if you're lucky you have a solid roof over your head (instead of a tent) and you're eating more than ramen noodles for your daily meal. And yeah, I'm exaggerating, but not by much.

[@tubalcain6874]

@@chriscampbell9191 I trust this woman has a decent nest egg set aside, and is well ensconced in a decent job or career path, because as she ages, the chick jobs will be going to the younger and entitled pearl clutchers. I can say unequivocally that as bad as ageism is for older males, it’s much tougher on older females.

[@silverice-cv4ob]

There’s been a political and even cultural attempt to demoralize men, I believe. Sure we all should work and contribute, but you can’t ask men to work below their potential for the sake of the economy. Based on what I’ve seen here in Maryland, most men aren’t incentivized to work hard. Whereas women are treasured by their employers, professors, and community where men aren’t unless they have money.

[@philliphickox4023]

Esther Vilar in her book mentions about single men, being responsible for only themselves and nobody else.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Good. That's the only moral position to have in a society that hates men.

[@Kanfachan]

Exactly. You’re getting to the core of the problem. Single men have no other responsibility but themselves. But men, unlike women and children, generally have few wants, and simple needs. If a person doesn’t need much in life to be reasonably comfortable, why would they trade in what extra free time they have to work at a demanding (and often unpleasant) job? The answer is they won’t. They’ll work just hard enough (or not at all if they can receive resources from a third party) to support their basic needs and wants, and that’s it.

[@anotherabeer4341]

Summer jobs for American teenagers ended because our government began allowing reckless mass immigration from Latin America of lower skilled semiliterate adults into the US job market. This is a major disruptive factor for our young in gaining job experience.

[@roninbruh]

I live in Los Angeles and I completely agree with you. I’m amazed how little these eggheads pay attention to this.

[@brianwilke592]

@@roninbruh They don't care, and haven't for a long, long time.

[@roninbruh]

@@brianwilke592 right. I’m a Chinese American and I’m downright shocked how little these ppl care about their own citizens. All they do is shame, guilt-trip, and obligate them to uphold pitiful norms. I can see why Americans-particularly young white men-are cynical.

[@grannyannie2948]

Australia isn't much better.

[@skylinefever]

Yes, and so many Republicans decided to side with Dems because it was an effective union buster. It is why Reagen, Bush, and Bush II kept makeing lame excuses.

[@alanaadams7440]

For the majority of workers there is no American dream anymore wages have stagnated prices of homes sky high. Working people don't see a future where they are making enough money to buy a home have a family and a car that is depressing they were paid to stay home and play video games now they have little ambition to work

[@user-gz4ve8mw9l]

It's systemic failure and only systemic change will remedy it. Alas societal collapse is what we'll end up with inevitably instead. The USA is already in a state of not only decline, but collapse.

[@vaughnmiller185]

I read an article a few years ago that said that wages and workforce participation decoupled circa 1999. To me that means that sometime after 2008, and definitely after layoffs of 60,00 people per company (downsizing/rightsizing) from the '70s and especially the 1990 onward have left people with the impression that they can be poor and miserable at home.

[@mipiace2504]

For men to be reluctant to commit is completely rational. Our culture has betrayed them.

[@Piccolo_Re]

Men don’t want to work anymore because jobs don’t pay much. The work is hard. I’ve worked for several large corporations. The corporations put insane amounts of pressure on you to work x amount of accounts a day or hit a certain productivity level. You can do that consistently and still never get a raise or promotion. They don’t care because they all just end up outsourcing the jobs to India or China or the Philippines. All the profit just goes to the guys at the top and not down to any of the employees. So why would we want to work anymore when work is stressful and doesn’t pay much?

[@ibrahimmohamed4329]

Part of the problem is due to age discrimination. Try getting a professional job after age 50. Good luck!

[@lafred2007]

So true

[@grannyannie2948]

I agree. I know so many unemployed men over fifty who's exwives had taken to the cleaners. What's the point for them?

[@espada9]

I'm 58 and I get hit up daily for jobs in biotech.

[@leeanderson2912]

I have hit "the age wall" half a dozen times so this is a valid observation.

[@tonyherdina9142]

It's not easy but it can be done. Try taking all the dates off your resume and replace it with years of experience at each company.

[@Joker15234]

They have taken the value out of earnings when it comes to intensive labor. They reward people with welfare programs, free tuition, paid rent while taking the value out of thr earned income. Working doesn't pay off in the long run. Inflation as an invisible tax is the nail in the coffin. Yet corporations making more money then ever before and government spending is out of control. What is in it for the common working class man?

[@gregorymalchuk272]

I'm surprised people don't get mad about inflation in general, but specifically the fact that most governments and central banks have an "inflation target" of +2% or +3% which will halve your money in 22 years. And they will manipulate interest rates, taxation, and government expenditures to make sure there is positive inflation continuously stealing poor and working people's savings.

[@derekpascal3749]

My parents never once talked to me about the supreme importance of work. They worked each day they lived, quietly doing good work. Influence is better than words.

[@skylinefever]

People have to talk about work having a higher meaning because everybody knows they are just working to buy bigger yachts for the corporate bigwigs and politicians.

[@libbydaddy8610]

What a great ending to this interview with so much hard to swallow but factual and wise points. Thanr ks, guys! Love to see you as you countries premier some day, Farmer Anderson!

[@nefrusebek]

Down here in a Texas jobs would rather hire cheap immigrants to do skilled labor

[@jackdoe7933]

I recently watched a report on CBS addressing this issue and they laughed at men. How much of this problem is due to the venom and vitriol that is constantly directed at men by the media and society at large when , for example , men and boys are called toxic, etc. ?

[@johngoras73]

I'm 35 minutes into this and I haven't heard mention of this little thing called Feminism and all that entails. I wonder if Mr. Eberstadt's come across it in his studies.

[@DJ-il8iv]

Oh he wouldn’t Dare!

[@savevsdeath]

They won't mention the negative effects of feminism. That's verboten with academics.

[@brianmeen2158]

@@savevsdeathI’ve noticed that as well. Nicholas and others like Richard Reeves have never brought up feminism and the negatives that have come with it. I don’t think feminism is the main cause of this issue but it’s definitely a big factor and ignoring it is counter productive

[@chadcadsonvii5258]

Recognising that he won't mention such a big factor should lead one to understand that he is essentially a grifter, looking to profit from the situation instead of try and help fix it!

[@akp167]

Feminism is definitely responsible for much of this but men still need to go to work just so they can survive and save.

[@matthewhearne7200]

Why work at a job that doesn't pay enough to escape the poverty line?

[@skylinefever]

Holy men will probably try to motivate regular men with motivational platitudes. They will then take some Biblical rags to riches story, and pretend any man can do it if they work hard and pray hard enough. Motivational speakers will probably also be employed and share their story of how they tried hard and beat the system. Those guys will then act like you are a lazy loser because you didn't achieve it.

[@brianmeen2158]

Because if you don’t work you will be poor and live a much less fulfilling life? I don’t get how or what you guys plan on doing if you don’t work

[@akp167]

@@brianmeen2158 They plan on complaining on reddit and KZbin. I heard that pays them quite a bit.

[@RadicallyFRUGAL]

I turn 60 years old in November of last year I've gone through some hardships and successes in my life I was a failed solar salesman 5 years ago and my boss suggested I tried doordash. I'm not an elitist I've done manual jobs but I told him that I wasn't going to be a fifty-five-year-old pizza delivery boy. Within three months I quit selling solar and I've been working 60 to 90 hours a week consistently for the last three years since March of 2020. I get exercise I've gotten son I haven't used my asthma medication since September of 2020 I've gotten healthier and I get to listen to KZbin videos like this and and other economics and efficient home living in tiny home videos while I'm working doing doordash making a good living. If I had to stay in a house unemployed it would be Soul crushing and I would become an alcoholic.

[@gregorymoats4007]

60-90 hours a week for how much money?….No thanks

[@RadicallyFRUGAL]

@@gregorymoats4007 80000. If you want to reach your goal you have to do what other people might not be willing to do my goal is financial freedom And instead of wasting times Spreading it out over more years I'm compressing it and doing it as fast as I can I'm not gonna complain about available hard work and sit on my a** waiting for more money

[@gregorymoats4007]

@@RadicallyFRUGAL I’m not complaining. Just choosing not to work like the devil for what’s left of my life to pay for the fading fever dream of others…

[@user-gz4ve8mw9l]

Hope you have the insurance for your vehicle that covers any issues during gig work.

[@edbaker4260]

Part of the problem is young people are not getting married. I graduated high school in 1961, facing the draft I joined the Navy. When I got home at age 21 virtually every girl I went to school with was married and most had children already. I have triplets that graduated from a prestige's charter school and are now 25 yrs. old out of their entire graduating class only one couple has married, and they do not have children. Most of their classmates are friends and socialize regularly.

[@Bertuzz84]

I remember when i was 21. I was just starting to figure out life and working and partying. I got my drivers license at that age too because you don't really need one where i live. At that age we didn't really feel like adults yet. There was no way that we were anywhere near ready to get married or have children. Another thing is that where i live we were paid youth minimum wage. So up until 21-23 years old there wasn't that much of a point to working. Because a 16-20 year old basically works for beer money, you can't live off of that. The idea is that you are supposed to stay in school instead of working. And only at around 23 do you start to make enough to think about getting your own place. But with the current house prices you need to be in a committed relationship with 2 incomes to even think of buying a house. House prices are at around 10 median year salaries here lol... They need to make it so young people can get started in life. Because everything is skewed towards pandering to the old who vote on mass and are a bigger generation.

[@skylinefever]

@@Bertuzz84 I think if someone could bring back the apprenticeship system in the USA, we could get skilled tradespeople and decent paying jobs right after HS graduation or with a GED. However, Big School wants to get as rich and powerful as Big Oil and Big Tobacco, so good luck with that. The USA has become an oligarchy controlled by the worst lobbyists there are.

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

When I was out of the military in '87, the church girls didn't want us, neither the divorcees.

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

As a physically damaged veteran still fighting for my benefits 34 years on, I will never forget the non-support from the Ivy Leagues. Employer backing, next to nothing. Promise of America denied.

[@dannyb3663]

Not getting married is not the problem in itself. Its the ideologies that make marriage impractical.

[@PELEGON1]

Excellent conversation.

[@B1gLupu]

When you think about it, unless you have people who you love and who depend on you, the stress of employment is a bit too much to ask a person. As a man, if you are around 30 and have no family and nobody who depends on you, it's sorta unreasonable for you to have the emotional bandwith to work even 40 hours a week. Why bother if the only thing waiting you back home is an empty fridge and cold bed? Most men only work hard for other people. If you have nobody to work hard FOR, most will not put in the effort.

[@mrmeow2297]

Men are free now. Finally.

[@mrustle5707]

A "manufacturing" job does not necessarily mean "working with your hands", strictly speaking, especially nowadays. It can be just as "intellectual" as any other. The difference might be in the fact that it is very specialized towards solving a certain type of problems, accomplishing a certain type of tasks. Therefore you don't need a general college or higher education to excel at it. A CNC operator may have to use his brain even more than a teacher even though what comes out of his hands is a piece of hard metal: the type of the outcome you're expecting from your work does not define or limit your degree of intellectual involvement in that work. This is what is lost: the pride of a man (or a woman :) to be able to hold in their hands the fruit of their own physical AND intellectual effort.

[@deborahdean8867]

Yes, mega corporations are stealing capitalism from the little guy. They get capitalism we get socialism, and slavery

[@Comeonemane1]

no question. the education system is a ' buy in ' system.

[@marcoasalgado]

At 34:30 the speaker starts talking about people being afraid of starting families and failing. The issue is that social safety nets are weak and jobs are insecure and most don’t pay a living wage. These are all policy decisions and modernity.

[@DanSme1]

Human beings were created/designed for a purpose. For men and women, "meaningful" work is a necessity for mental well-being. Today's employment/economic "crisis" is a bit oblique. The Western physical world has been designed, built, and maintained primarily by men. Further, the masculine "bent/nature" is to "steward" (maintain, fix, solve) things, do replace chaos with order. It's true whether the task is providing meat for the tribes' dinner or reducing suffering by protection/shelter or more efficient utility infrastructure. Without real men, the entire fabric of both our physical and social life decays and finally collapses.

[@roninbruh]

The problem with your statement is men are aimless due to women being empowered by feminism and govt handouts. It completely destroyed the family and men CAN fix things but choose not to because it doesn’t do any good. It just buys them loyalty for that moment in time. In short, men aren’t respected so there’s no need to harm oneself without any tangible benefit.

[@jameskeefe1761]

Wrong. Work is not an end, only a means to end. People are designed and created to have families, raise children, marry. Work is a way to facilitate that. Now that men are told that marriage is bad and supporting women and raising kids is bad, there is no reason to put up with work. Work is not dignifying or fullfilling. Otherwise men would still be doing it, the reason men dont is the reason, the family, is gone

[@Hellsaint1]

You have a job to provide for a family. Feminism and modern costs/risks have made having a family impossible (whether by intention or accident). Mystery solved. Didn't take me a whole book.

[@GimbloBlimfby]

Correct. Risk benefit analysis for having a family fails, and it's by design. The cold war era economic system prioritised bringing females in to the workforce whilst suppressing birth rates, increasing gross per-capita productivity, simultaneously reducing health and education expenses, thus freeing up resources for military expenditure. After the cold war ended, a mixture of greed, ideology and cultural inertia kept what were supposed to be temporary measures in place, even after the resulting demographic and economic decline was recognised as an inevitable result. The Neo-liberal experiment was to paper over the gaps with immigration, which has had mixed results, but is now also failing, thanks to demographic decline worldwide.

[@Hellsaint1]

@@GimbloBlimfby Yep. I certainly look forward to being a racial minority in the country my ancestors founded. Looks like that's working out fine for the Americans...

[@pierregibson6699]

@@Hellsaint1 😂😂😂 😂

[@grannyannie2948]

Yes I saw it in my lifetime. No fault divorce and welfare for single mothers. Problem solved.

[@skylinefever]

This is one thing I like about Japan and South Korea. No matter how low the birth rates get, they won't embrace immigration. I also love seeing the UN and EU unelected bureaucrats get butthurt about it.

[@michaelhart1597]

The cost of living and wages are so disproportionately distorted to point where it rob men of the incentive to value the concept of work for it's Intrinsic purpose. Also, in some household their is a needs to have one earners, if not both working part time jobs in order to afford upward mobility as a family unit. My point is, People having an inane sense of exploitation alerting them that something wicked is underfoot.

[@michaelcamilleri8554]

I worked for money to feed, clothe and house my family, that's it

[@colindant3410]

Very difficult to do that these days, even if one has got work!

[@williamgomez5876]

single mothers are the new families. thays why men don't work.

[@henrylindsey2841]

Brilliant speaker!

[@lukelucy1980]

This started in the late 80's. Manufacturing Jobs went to China. Trade Schools became non-existent, or Very Expensive and Out of the Government Grant / Loan System. Trades were full of Middle Aged Experienced Men, didn't want the additional competition of young lower experience working for less, because the illegal population was hard enough. Due to Government Hiring regulations; Manufacturing was a place where illegals didn't lower wages, therefore low skill labor could still make a low income LIVING in the factory's. Also in the 80's we started dumbing down Public Education. Now you have barely literate Prime Age Men Expected to work in Fast Food and other teenage type jobs. The pay will not provide a low income Living. These Jobs do not provide basic men with the since of personal significance. What Men Need is pride of work. This lack of hope in being more than "White Trash" Privileged Group has turned to drugs and Apathy. Meanwhile so many have become so very rich by gaming the system for Global Rule.

[@sydsydneyk7416]

Great show with a great topic. A real sociological study.

[@davidvalenta9394]

the topic of social benefits & universal basic income were addressed before the topic of living wage incentivization to get back into the workforce. So many corporate interests have been at play for short-term personal & corporate profits ahead of long-tern national contribution to infrastructure, paying workers fairly and with solid engagement of financial participation of property ownership, family-building, etc. addressing U.S. business interests sending jobs out of the country decades ago for both cheaper and substandard labor, as well as a topic not addressed of a _living wage_ fairly given for their labors, wasn't addressed. Income disparity and placing blame on top corporate structure concepts of growing unnecessary middle management on the efforts of lower & lowest tier workers, whose performance & output has increased with stagnant compensation. What's the incentive for workers without power to push , expend & give "just a little more" when it truly doesn't pay off? The disillusionment is skipped in this dialogue. > corporate profits made within the nationshould support the nation in which it was earned/extracted from; the profit margin should decrease for the sake of the longer picture & performance. Either pay the workers & maintain excellent & sought after goods made in the nation, compensate & retstore the resources (land, air, water, etc) corporate taxes that restore the energy grid ( instead of solely worker income & personal property taxes) . This ^ has been pretty much missed in this conversation, as well as the reduction of human beings to economic units of productivity towards corporate profit, consumerism/consumption, and resentment of public cost/ burden on society of basic living standards or medical needs. (aka: the threads of eugenics & deity-/faith removed human value from society.)

[@robertamorrison3462]

Enjoyable conversation.

[@AnthonyTolhurst-dw1nc]

People are overwhelmed with all the changes currently unfolding. Relying on past learned outcomes in many ways, are no longer guaranteed as part of a future we all expect. Our future is wide open and, as usual, unknown; however when social/familial structures break down, support when needed is no longer there.

[@ShamanMcLamie]

One problem is that today our collective memory is much shorter. A lot of people act like history started after World War II, but a lot of these problems we're facing aren't necessarily new. Periods of population decline is pretty common in history. The inability to start families isn't new either. It is actually an indicator of overpopulation and rising inequality. It also is a predictor social and political upheaval. When the average age people started having kids gets into the late 20s is usually when you reach a crisis point. This happened right before the French Revolution. Today the average age people start families is 31. What technology afforded us was the ability to raise the population ceiling. Now we're starting to hit that ceiling and the problems with that are now creeping up again.

[@adrianprzybyek5758]

@@ShamanMcLamie Population will collapse. There were no such anticonception methods, as today. Population is fallinging not in 1 country but globally.

[@fredrickm4436]

When it comes to males in general, nobody talks about this foundational reason they gave up on work: the fact that the vast majority of man get NO attention or affection from females. They have no hope of getting married because women don't want them, and family seems an abstract notion to young males 15-35. They have no idea how to be male or full grown man. Their words, actions, and thoughts are held against them everywhere. And they are ridiculed endlessly in every form of media. They see friends and their fathers chewed up and spit out. So in their minds, why work? They have a point...but NOBODY will ever listen to them.

[@zeno2501]

Society will grind to a halt before any leader accepts this, but it is the truth.

[@skylinefever]

@@zeno2501 Heck, I can imagine leaders only listening when the world is burning, and nobody answers the call to put out the fire.

[@ryannada1987]

Online dating doesn’t work for most guys. There’s so much human interaction missing there. It’s just not how mating was ever supposed to happen. Glances, smells, pursuit, you get none of that scrolling through pictures. Women have always had the upper hand, but online dating causes men to forget how to actually attract a woman. Then guys lose confidence and it’s a downward cycle. Go back and watch the movie Goldfinger. I’m sure growing up on Connery helped me. The world needs confident men! That’s a huge part of this.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

Maybe women will stop being so choosy when the frigid nights of the thermonuclear winter have them shivering.

[@ryannada1987]

@@gregorymalchuk272 There’s nothing wrong with wanting to choose a good partner. Men want a good partner too. Women aren’t attracted to bitterness or whiny men. That shows a lack of confidence and that is the most unattractive thing imaginable.

[@mrustle5707]

Something is not quite right in what Mr Eberstadt is saying. AFAIAC I know that a few thousand dollars were transferred to my account during Covid under some relief program(s) but *nowhere near* $25000 for my whole family! I suppose different households may have qualified for different programs, rent, mortgage, interest rate, children, unemployment, etc which we didn't for any of them but it is just hard to believe that even in those cases the public 'relief' money received by each family would have amounted to this much. I think it is a sloppy generalization to assume that many males don't want to work anymore because each family has all of a sudden found itself with $25000 in disposable income overnight. And why males? Wouldn't that impact the rate of employment of women as well? The thing is, there seems to have been lot of public money that changed hands through these 'relief' programs but I don't think this can be invoked as an explanation for the (likely real) problem Mr Eberstadt warns about here. At least not in the way he's suggesting, IMO.

[@mfawls9624]

Same here. We received a few thousand, that we had zero need of btw, but not near $25,000. My personal thinking was to save and invest every dollar we received...but as a married man compromise is always necessary, lol.

[@dannyb3663]

Nearly all the printed money went to the wealthy. Its how they steal from you. More money = more inflation. So you can't have as big a slice of the pie any more because you can't afford it. But they still can, because they got the extra money.

[@gregorymalchuk272]

You're very right about that supposed 25,000 having an impact on women. Probably an even more pronounced impact, given what we know about women using child support not for the children, but to directly offset her need to work.

[@libbydaddy8610]

John Anderson always get right to the point: "Future Americans are paying current Americans not to work." Right on. "Perverse incentives." I'm hanging onto that term.

[@Clone42]

Present Americans are paying present Americans not to work, and have been for half a century.

[@joemendiuk]

Future Americans paying for present American leadership to initiate WW3! Additionally, there doesn't seem to be any concern about future Americans paying for present Americans, supported in the execution of the cultural revolution being directed by the global communist acolytes, which has so many strung out on fentynl and living on the streets destroying America from within!

[@gmw3083]

Future Americans will default. America will fall. It's inevitable.

[@JeffCaplan313]

Nice one. Women are treating boys like girls meaning there won't be any future men, which is why the current men are ignoring women, which allows the women to groom the boys into fboys and the circle of life continues...until it stops.

[@gregorymoats4007]

Wrong. It’s a very inaccurate and makes for an over simplified talking point. As though Medicaid, Medicare, and social security pensions are not nothing…

[@Capitalist_Pig314]

I’m not sure about Australia, but in America, there’s no doubt in my mind, the greatest threat to our freedom, our economic security, and our general future, as a nation is our federal government. Not the Chinese, not the Russians, not global warming or any of that BS. it is the government. A democratic form of government such as America has, which in our case is a constitutional republic, cannot function without free, self reliant, ambitious, educated, and socially engaged people who watch Tgovernment a hawk

[@montanagal6958]

as a nurse felt attacked by my gov during Covid

[@zach4677]

I can see why someone would give up. The thought has crossed my mind numerous times. I am in my early 30s and dont see how I could ever afford to buy a house. I have a masters and work 2 jobs. Hard work and making good decisions just is not enough anymore.

[@shoahkhan5670]

That's what happens when you open up the hard wrought Western economies to the lowest bidders of the East -- everything loses intrinsic value, while what does have value, becomes unattainable for the average person.

[@johnmcintyre6687]

The Captains of Industry sailed us right into this storm

[@janinemartens2908]

Brilliant assessment. Thanks from Austin, Texas.

[@davidlundquist]

I often feel lost in hopeless. Not that I refuse to work, To the contrary I do lots of work but I do it for myself and in effort of self reliance I've given up on a society that values Woke culture and tells me I'm a racist by virtue of my soon color. I'm not doing it anymore

[@LuvLebaneseWomen]

Overworked my entire life. To only watch our best R&D go to China.. I'm so bitter I could play video games!

[@ricardoarevalo6369]

How do want people to work when apple CEO makes 1400 more money than average apple employee, when Walmart CEO makes 23.6 millions and average employee $ 22.000. In regards to population, just a few hundreds years ago we were not these many and we survived, so everything will be ok,on the other hand we spent so much money in the military industrial complex that can fund future needs because of depopulation.

[@johnw574]

Crazy amount of fake conversations on youtube these days to get people into an investment scam... I counted at least 3 on this video with 40+ likes and fake back and forth conversations.

[@MijoShrek]

They're on every freaking video that has any mention of economics. It's ridiculous the amount of boys in comments sections.

[@dm95422]

When you devalue the money, you devalue the desire to work. It’s simply not worth it anymore.

[@zwatwashdc]

Wow, so society can only degrade prime age men so much till they just quit. Who knew….?

[@libbydaddy8610]

Regenerative / beyond organic farming. Get yourself a homestead and get out of this dark spiral and in the process help your neighbor with good things that will help them & give you great satisfaction.

[@margaretcampbell2681]

America doesn’t pay workers sufficiently

[@goodenergy11]

I love you, ALL! & it isn’t selfishness for the prime adults not wishing to have children… it’s the criminally insane political & pharmaceutical climate we live in.

[@dannyben406]

The elephant in the room on fertility rates is religion, especially Christianity. In many countries with subreplacement fertility, it is the most religious that have the most children. There are multiple factors to birth decline, but secularism and a lack of any moral compass contributes to the crushing pessimism associated with not wanting children.

[@skylinefever]

Well, maybe it wouldn't have happened if the extremists weren't giving children borderline paranoid schizophrenia and ctpsd with hellfire and brimstone sermons.

[@dannyben406]

@@skylinefever fire and brimstone sermons are fine provided they're based on the bible

[@skylinefever]

@@dannyben406 Yes, giving biblical cptsd and paranoid schizophrenia is so great. I'm so glad counslers have compiled religious trauma syndrome and do something about it. Where were they 28 years ago when Lakeside Christian School of Clearwater Florida mindfucked me?

[@tubalcain6874]

@@skylinefever I just turned 65, and years of little/no worth public education, and many years of disarrayed jobs, has been more than my cross to bear than my late parent’s goofy faith community ever was.

[@bw1357]

In construction today, if you don't speak Spanish, you're at a huge disadvantage.... If you're not willing to work for a just above minimum wage on a job site, you're not going to get hired

[@PraiseJesusChristOurSavior]

all by design

[@deborahdean8867]

Truth.

[@JosephHuether]

I’m 68 and live in a medium-sized US - New England city. Just wondering: Where are these people? They are showing up in “data”…I just don’t see them physically. It’s not like they are sitting outside playing checkers and dominos. “On screens” in their parent’s basements I guess. Invisible? Interestingly…when I was growing up in suburban 1960s New Jersey, most of my friend’s mothers were home “on (TV) screens” all day long. Believe me, they weren’t all volunteering, and taking the kids to enrichment programs. If they had money, they might have played tennis and had a housekeeper. Most were terribly BORED.

[@garrettjohnson7546]

Great guest!

[@margaretgreenwood4243]

We aren’t paid enough. Simple

[@pierregibson6699]

Bingo

[@skylinefever]

And if we demand more, the overlords will just bring in people illegally to break negotiations.

[@margaretgreenwood4243]

@@skylinefever As per

[@dol3980]

John: Nik asks if other countries are experiencing the same phenomena of young men not participating. Canada is the zenith of this paralysis where our august leader's first step as pm was to ensure 50% of his cabinet was women albeit they represented 33% of the elected members. As Jordan Peterson opines meritocracy is dead in Canada and filters down to our corporate scene here as well.

[@LumenMichaelOne]

Excellent discussion, thank you.

[@davidalexanderlourie4371]

'They do allow an alternative to working in the work force'. They also allow an alternative to starving or freezing to death and alternative to a life of crime through necessity. It would be an interesting experience for both of these gentlemen to live on the streets for a month with no contact with friends or family, no residential address, no car, rely entirely on public transport, clothes bought from second hand shops, living on take aways and cold foods, no access to their bank accounts, wash and shower and clean their teeth where ever they can for a month ...and then go applying for unskilled jobs. Then naybe they can offer useful suggestions about unemployment.

[@felipe741]

Such a refreshing talk, no pigeonholing into left/right politics, just straight facts. Bravo 👏

[@C-man553]

Well said.

[@bernardwatts5339]

There's plenty to do with our days. Reading, cycling, walking, gardening, watching films, playing cards, cooking,............. Why spend 2000 hours a year watching a screen at work?

[@ed19742006]

great conversation

[@michaelpowell-ngatchou6274]

People in charge of the society don't want anyone challenging them. That's the real reason for this.

[@Truemann45]

I made 60,000 bucks take home pay for 3 out of the past four years. Now, ive been out of work for going on four months. I probably wont go back to that good paying job because it demands too much and theres very little hope for a good future doing that anyway. I can have 90% of the happy life earning 20,000 and living at home as i would earning 60,000 living on my own. Its not gonna get any easier either.

[@jayjones7891]

This is a great conversation, but you guys are missing something important. Even if these men worked there is no social benefit to it. Women now out earn them and don't respect nor admire blue collar men. A potential for a romantic relationship has been a huge motivator for men since the beginning of time. Everything has flipped. Men have no responsibilities anymore. Told everyday they are not needed by women. We are talking mass psychological issues here as well.

[@grannyannie2948]

Well said

[@marianhunt8899]

This society does not respect blue collar women either. We, like the men, are called unskilled or even useless eaters should we fall ill and need help getting back on our feet. I notice wealthy men or women are never shamed in such a manner.

[@jayjones7891]

@@marianhunt8899 I don't know if the last sentence is a fact, but I will agree that women go through those things. I don't have an answer on how to solve these problems.

[@KC-kr8qe]

​@@marianhunt8899 I agree. Just go for someone in your own class. I wouldn't be with a man who makes less or isn't college educated. It goes both ways.

[@Yesquire0]

Most jobs offer wages or salary compensation. For decades now, workers and employers have been cows constantly milked for ever-increasing amounts of taxes to fund the idea that government can make everyone's life wonderful. Need more money? Raise employment taxes! Guess what? Whenever you tax something, you get less of it. The employment participation rate has hovered around 60% for years now. There is a valid debate about the correllation between that number and people who could work but not wanting to work at a traditional sort of wage-paying or salaried job. The unemployment rate is a joke, measuring only the percentage of former workers receiving unemployment compensation benefits, and therefore having almost zero relevance as to how many adults are not working when they could be. When do you hit that theoretical point where net wages are no longer enough to convince a person to take a job? If a job pays $1,000 per week, and the worker takes home $100 per week due to payroll deductions, will people be motivated by money to get that job? What if the take-home is $250? What if it is $450? Well, we are pretty much at $450 right now in the USA after deductions for federal, state, and local income taxes, FICA, Medicare, Retirment, Employee's share of medical insurance, etc. and if you also factor in sales taxes when that worker buys something, and property taxes if the worker's owns a home or rents. The employers are also being nailed for one-half of FICA and Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Employer contributions to health care, worker's compensation insurance premiums, and maybe other group fringe benefit costs. The cost of cash wages or salary is just the tip of the iceberg. We've gotten to the point where it is a miracle that jobs even exists, and that people are still willing to accept one.

[@noelhausler2911]

I had four girls and have 5 grandsons and one granddaughter. Perhaps costs for raising families, paying off student debt and paying off a home. Years ago Malcolm Fraser gave a money transfer for families with children. It was great as it helped me pay for braces for two of my daughters

[@onehundredhourchallenge836]

I think he needs to examine the role of employers in this crisis. When my father was a young man he got hired for his job with only a high school education. His company trained him and promoted him and he worked for that same company for 30 years. He had a union. Now companies are unwilling to train , their "entry level" jobs require two years of experience and start at 12 dollars an hour. They also have no loyalty what so ever to their work force and lay off people with out warning. Also the process of doing online applications for jobs is exhausting. It's no wonder men don't want to work anymore.

[@kateadkins7087]

31:43 Very interesting thus far . Does Nicholas feel that the growth in single parents was is a factor for the professional non-worker? Also is there a similar level of non-work for women?

[@castirondude]

"You can count on Americans to do the right thing after exhausting all other options" man isn't that the truth. I would say at this point the right thing is for every state to become a country and for DC to govern just DC.

[@lynettedear4833]

I suppose the benefits of working as an activity has declined for men. If only money is the incentive for working, well, the middle income people have declined value, women are more educated and don't usually marry down, they want to marry up plus they have very high standards and they turn over husbands they grow tired of and the men find themselves in poverty street. So why bother?

[@stevenhanson6057]

Excuses excuses

[@mikeayensu-mensah5606]

Because maybe you're better than you think you are. Why quit simply for the reasons you gave? It's not impossible to succeed now, just harder in some ways; but let's not forget that it's a lot easier in a lot of other ways as well. You can do it

[@coahcudjoe7659]

Brilliant scholar. Be blessed.